


Snake in the Glen

by Draconicmaw



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Centaur!Bandit Keith Howard, Flirty Yugi, Greek Mythos AU, Lamia!Seto, M/M, MON-STER FIGHT! MON-STER FIGHT!, Naiad!Yugi, Rivalshipping Week 2020, RivalshippingWeek2020, Seto is awkward, TsundereExtraordinaire!Seto Kaiba, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:13:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28328079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draconicmaw/pseuds/Draconicmaw
Summary: Yugi is the naiad of a small stream. One day, there's a very interesting visitor in the glen. There's something more to this lamia than hissed threats and sharp fangs.(Aka, the place where I am going to put all of my prompts for RivalshippingWeek2020.)
Relationships: Kaiba Seto/Mutou Yuugi
Comments: 10
Kudos: 42
Collections: Rivalshipping Week 2020





	1. Visitor

**Author's Note:**

> Ugh, you guys, I love Rivalshipping so much. Of course I am going to participate in Rivalshipping week! *screams into pillow* 
> 
> So this idea isn't the most developed of mine, but I hope you guys will enjoy it, anyways. 
> 
> I am going to be writing the prompts out of their assigned order, but the chapters themselves will be in chronological order. First up, Day 4 prompts: Monsters and/or Flirting.

The midsummer sun beat down harshly upon the glen. The beamed through the thick canopy to dapple the ground and the babbling stream. Animals took shelter in the shifting shade and crept up to the sparkling water to take a refreshing drink. Fish flashed beneath the surface, swimming against the current.

Farther downstream, a figure splashed helplessly in the water. Pale skin gleamed under glistening droplets and under the shifting sunlight. Hair, slick, clung to a slender neck and lithe shoulders in veins of black and crimson and gold. Naked, the figure collapsed against a jagged, mossy rock half submerged on one side of the stream. Panting breaths huffed rhythmically, ribs shifting and contracting under that porcelain skin.

Yugi sighed, brows furrowing over purple eyes blinking hazily. It felt as though his entire body were weighted with lead.

But no, he was just tangled in an old net.

He’d tried his best to pull it from the river.

But a small naiad seemed to be no match for that large net, no matter how old or beaten or torn.

The rock felt cool to the touch, and at least the current still rushed over his lower half, slithering between his bare thighs, and tickling his ankles. Each drop of fresh, moving water gave to him a drop of strength, of vital energy. He would just have to rest a little while before he could go back to work.

He rested there, slumped against the rock. But his eyes snapped open when the noises of the glen – frogs croaking and birds chirping and animals moving stopped.

The back of his neck prickled with a chill despite the warm water rushing around him and the sun dappling his bare form.

There was something else in this glen.

Yugi tried to sink into the water, but his hands slipped on the wet rock, part of the net tangled around his body was caught on the rocks lining the streambed, and he was still weak with exhaustion.

He was stuck there, vulnerable on the bank of the stream.

He laid still then, though he knew without being fully submerged he could not simply melt into the water. Perhaps if he didn’t move, he wouldn’t attract attention. If the animals thought that remaining quiet was a good idea, then he didn’t see the harm in giving it a try.

And for several moments, there was silence.

Nothing, there was nothing, nothing but the wind hissing through the leaves and the stream babbling and Yugi’s heart pounding.

His ears strained, strained, reaching for nothing, until he heard it – a hissing, different from the wind, twigs snapping, leaves rustling. Breathing, too. Close, the sounds were close, closer, whispering their way toward the stream.

Then, the sounds paused, save for that slow breathing. A shadow loomed over him.

Yugi cracked an eye open and looked up.

A formidable shape – broad shoulders, flowing hair that glistened a silky bronze, strong arms ending in fingers tipped with wicked talons, a slender and muscular waist tapering then flaring into plated scales that gleamed a blinding white in the dappled light of the sun. Slitted eyes, bluer than the sky, stared down coldly.

A lamia.

A… male lamia, surprisingly.

Though Yugi couldn’t judge – male naiads were far and few between.

The lamia reared up a little higher on that strong serpentine body. Yugi flinched and squeezed his eyes closed.

But then the shadow was gone.

Yugi cracked his eye open again. The lamia was gone, too.

He slowly raised his head. Ahead of him, on the bank, there was unsettled sandy soil, and a white shape.

Part of the lamia’s body. Muscular, white. Upon closer inspection, Yugi could see little brown flecks on the scales, all of which were neatly lined like plating on armor. He followed that body up, back to where the scales seemed to soften around what probably represented hips on a pure human, to perfectly human skin, slightly tanned. A shapely back and sides moved just so as the lamia lowered his scaled hands into the water to cup it and bring it to his lips. The water sparkled on his scales, gleamed like diamonds. In his stooped position, his long hair dripped from one shoulder to kiss the surface of the stream.

He was thirsty.

Understandable, with this heat.

 _Well_ , Yugi reasoned, _if he wanted to eat me, he would have done it already._

So Yugi relaxed. It reminded him of his earlier trouble – he was still caught in the net.

He hummed, shifted off his back to sit in the river, the water flowing around his waist. The rope banded around his hips, down his legs, practically tying them together – the reason why he had fallen over in the first place. He sighed. He was stuck.

Unfortunately, he had the form of a human, and very few special abilities compared to even beastmen. No claws or fangs, no powers that would let him cut the rope.

If he had gotten himself caught in it, surely he could get himself out.

He glanced over at the lamia. He was still slowly drinking, probably basking in the partial shade, too. Yugi eyed those long claws as they scooped water up again, only to splash it on that face – stern but beautiful with its high cheekbones and firmly set lips.

Yugi licked his lips. The fresh taste of the stream water lingered on them. “Can… can you help me?” he asked quietly.

The lamia froze. He turned his head slowly. Those eyes had Yugi freezing in place, they were so stunning.

His lips parted, the hint of sharp teeth flashing behind them. “What would a naiad…” his voice rumbled out, gritty and rough but rather pleasant, “… want from me?”

But something about his tone had Yugi pausing. Weary, mistrustful. Yugi couldn’t imagine lamia having an easy go of it but… “Why do you say it like that?”

Like “naiad” was a curse word, a slur used only as the most vehement of vitriol.

The lamia’s lip, thin but so pink, curled up into a snarl. Sharp fangs glinted in the dappled sunlight. “Naiad’s aren’t known for their love of beastmen.”

Yugi’s frown deepened. He leaned back on his palms. He nearly slipped on the mossy rocks of the streambed. “And why would you say that?”

That lamia was staring at him like he had grown a second head. A very _stupid_ second head. “Because we’re _hideous_ , and naiads are vain, pampered creatures.”

Yugi laughed then, and now the lamia looked ready to spit venom. “I don’t know what naiads _you_ have been talking to.” Yugi let his head loll against his shoulder. He smiled gently. “I think your scales are gorgeous. And you obviously take very good care of your nails and hair.”

The lamia hissed, his coils writhing, lifting him a little higher. “What do you _want_ , you silver-tongued fiend?”

Yugi pursed his lips. Interesting. “Well, I’m in a bit of a predicament.”

A skeptical glare from those ultramarine eyes.

Yugi lifted both of his feet, pale and dainty, from the water. The netting wrapped about him was quite obvious. “Some time ago, a fisherman must have left his nets in the water and never came to get them back. They’ve been impeding the spawning migrations of the fish in the stream, so I thought to get rid of them. Well…” Yugi grinned up at his guest. “Seems this fisherman snagged something much bigger than a fish.”

“And that was why you were splayed on that rock instead of hiding in the water?” the lamia muttered, more to himself than Yugi.

Yugi only hummed in response.

“Only an _imbecile_ would have gotten caught in the net,” the lamia hissed next.

Yugi raised a finger. “I’m clumsy, not stupid. Big difference.” He pursed his lips as he regarded the lamia still on the bank of the stream. “I’ll cut you a deal. If you help me out of this net, you can stay in the glen as long as you want, and I won’t bother you after.”

The lamia hissed, but he seemed to relax. “I will take that deal.”

Yugi beamed. “Excellent.”

He dragged himself closer, huffing and puffing. The net was quite heavy – it was weighed down to the streambed by stones. With several loud splashes that had the lamia flinching away, he threw himself onto the bank.

“Pardon the nudity,” Yugi murmured. “I’m not very fond of clothing.”

“Most naiads aren’t,” the lamia replied dryly. “I do not dress, either.”

Yugi hummed, relaxed on the stones. He blinked up at the lamia.

Still, he seemed hesitant to reach down. Slowly, dare Yugi say _cautiously_ , he looped his claw under the rope at Yugi’s hip. Yugi shivered at the touch to his bare, wet skin. Perhaps Yugi was just seeing things, but it seemed that the slightest dusting of pink colored the lamia’s cheeks. With but a flex of that mighty finger, the claw severed the tough material of the rope.

The net loosened dramatically.

_Snap._

Loose.

_Snap._

Looser.

 _Snap_.

Loose enough for it to simply get pulled off his body, which the lamia did with a sweep of his hand. Waxy, smooth, the back of that scaled hand skimmed down Yugi’s leg. Yugi bit back his gasp.

The lamia raked his claws over the tangled netting, cutting and shredding it, ensuring that nothing would ever get caught in it again.

Yugi smiled, his head propped on his arm as he continued to lay there, all wet and naked on the stream bank.

“How could I ever thank you?” Yugi asked, purring. The lamia regarded him then, as Yugi traced his hand ever so lightly up that scaled arm. The lamia seemed frozen under his touch. “Maybe a kiss…?” Yugi hummed then, swiping his thumb along the seam of flesh and scale.

The lamia reeled back then, hissing, chest puffing. His cheeks were a furious red. “You lascivious _demon_ ,” he spat. Coils and long hair and blue eyes hastily retreated into the trees. “Leave me be, naiad! Our deal is now in effect!”

Yugi giggled behind his hand before he slipped back into the water. This should be fun.


	2. Conversation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 3: Office/ **Work** and/or Game Night
> 
> Let's pretend I didn't fall several days behind on this, okay? I tried to devote today to writing (both for this and for Pridecember 2020) but instead I ended up staring out the window for approximately 2 hours and have no recollection of doing so. 
> 
> ANYWAYS, here's the second chapter. I hope you enjoy it <3

In the shade of the glen, it was only just cooler than the sunbaked cliffs above the valley. The stream was warm, but still it chased away the heat of the sun. It was a relief, Yugi decided, that the work he wanted to do was in the water.

He’d found more derelict nets, some in greater states of disrepair than others, but all a struggle to remove. He’d wrestle them from the water one anchor stone at a time (which made for less tangling but it was arguably more time consuming, since the anchor stones were all within half a meter of one another, meaning that Yugi had to inch the net out of the water in a similar way that a caterpillar walks along a tree trunk).

Naiads were renowned for many qualities, but brute strength was not one of them.

And as the sun climbed higher, the temperature of the glen steadily rose, until it was almost unbearable for Yugi to completely step from the relatively cool water of the stream.

He wasn’t the only one suffering.

The animals came frequently to quench their thirst and, in some cases, to submerge themselves in the current in a bid to ward off the blistering heat. None showed fear in Yugi’s presence, for they knew he posed no threat to them.

There was one creature in the glen that had not taken refuge from the heat.

Yugi spotted him – that massive white shape. Coils upon coils of that muscular serpentine body were stretched out along rocks in the shade. The lamia seemed to be trying to bask on those shadow-cooled rocks, but to no avail. He hardly moved, humanoid chest laying flat on the rock, lustrous hair splayed out about him.

That back – shapely with muscles and decorated up the hollow of his spine with small white scales – slowly and shallowly raised and lowered with each breath.

Praise Gaia. He was alive.

But very, very miserable.

Yugi loathed to leave the sanctuary of the stream – and his duty to maintain it – behind, but still he crept up to that glorious prone form. Even languishing in the heat of the summer, the lamia dazzled with his reptilian beauty and grace.

Though Yugi tried his best to creep up – with careful placement of his feet on the pebbles of the bank – it seemed the lamia’s superior senses won out.

“What do you _want_ ,” the lamia hissed, unmoving save for his thin, pink lips.

Yugi froze, blinking widely. Meters away, the tip of that long tail flicked with aggravation. “This heat is intense, and I am sure you are uncomfortable,” Yugi managed after clearing his throat.

A low grunt from the lamia.

Yugi shifted where he crouched awkwardly on the bank of the stream. “Perhaps you would find the water more suited to your current needs…?”

That neck moved, tendons and muscles tensing and relaxing, lifted the lamia’s head up the smallest fraction. Strands of hair that gleamed like polished bronze in the sun parted to reveal wide blue eyes. Pink lips sat agape.

But as quickly as the look came, it was tainted by a fierce scowl. Scaled arms pushed that humanoid torso away, albeit a tad weakly. “As if you want _me_ in your precious waters,” he spat.

Yugi huffed then, standing to his full height to cross his arms over his chest. “Well, I would much rather have you in the water than have you dead on the banks.”

A low growl that subtly vibrated the rocks under Yugi’s feet.

“What about the animals? They will flee when I move from here,” came the next argument.

Yugi lifted a shoulder. “The stream is long enough for them to go elsewhere. We can share.” He came closer and crouched down again, on eye level with the edge of the rock and that wary blue gaze. “Come.” Yugi’s head tilted, and he smiled. “Please. I insist.”

A heaving, world-weary sigh, as though Yugi were asking the world of him. His pearly claws scratched against the stone as his hands shifted to push his torso up. Brown hair draped down like a silky curtain. Unlike the day before, the lamia did not carry his upper body upright; he _dragged_ himself with his arms.

The heat had weakened him much more than Yugi originally thought.

Yugi backed up. Helplessness bubbled up in him. He was by no means strong enough to help the lamia to the bank. He could only watch him drag himself to the water. The animals, roused to fear by the movement of such a large predator, quickly evacuated the stream. The lamia paid them no mind, and it wasn’t long before he was lowering himself into the water chest-first. Darkened and wet, that long hair flowed in the current and caught the brilliant sunlight. A sigh, of relief, of content, huffed from that toned chest. Further, further, the scaled coils rasping along the pebbles on the bank, until all but the lamia’s head was submerged in the cool waters.

“Better?” Yugi giggled when the tension flowed from the lamia’s hard-set shoulders.

A low hum, another sigh, blue eyes sliding closed.

Yugi gratefully waded in. Yes, the water was much, much better than the stones on the bank. But as much as Yugi wanted to bask and enjoy it like his reptilian guest, he still had work to do.

He inched more nets out, and collectively it made about seven in total.

He sighed, sitting on a rock, feet dangling in the water. He was done for the day. The water sparkled crystal clear, and the dappled sunlight beaming down on him made his skin seem so pale that it glowed under the seamless surface. Splashing and dripping caught his attention, and he tipped his chin up.

The lamia’s torso had risen above the water. Droplets gleamed on that chest, illuminating tan skin and white scale alike. Long hair was slicked to broad shoulders and sculpted collarbones and down defined pectorals. Sharp claws skimmed the surface of the glistening stream. Behind him, his long white body rippled beneath the distortion of the glassy water.

When the lamia was there, all wet and majestic, it made it hard to remember just who the minor water deity was between the two of them.

“You’re beautiful,” Yugi breathed.

It had been quiet, barely a whisper, but it seemed the lamia heard it anyway, if the bright flush that saturated those smooth cheeks meant anything.

The lamia slowly sank back into the water until it just barely lapped at his fine chin.

“Can I ask you for your name?” Yugi called, dropping into the water to escape the sunlight.

A blink. Droplets of water clumped up the long lashes surrounding those vivid blue eyes. Pink lips twitched.

A pause.

Yugi’s deep sigh almost hurt.

But then that voice, low, almost too low to be heard over the babbling stream. “Seto.”

A smile, ear-to-ear, split Yugi’s face. Blue eyes flicked away. The blush staining those cheeks intensified, and Yugi wondered if his face got hot, if he was _warm_. Yugi inched closer, only to sit on the streambed some meter or two away. “I’m Yugi.”

“Yugi,” Seto repeated, slow, letting the syllables roll around on his tongue.

Yugi nodded, grinning. “I think you know I’m a naiad.”

A scoff. Seto rolled his eyes.

A laugh poured from Yugi’s lips. “I just recently became the patron of this stream.” He leaned forward, arms draping around his knees. Each motion was observed with the most careful attention. Studied, almost. “Are you traveling?”

Honestly, Yugi didn’t know much about lamia, only some scraps he’d heard in passing, and not even those were numerous or telling.

Seto’s entire body shifted with his slow exhale. “… Yes. The males of our species are typically nomadic.”

“Typically?”

A hum.

Well, that was it on that topic.

“Are the females sedentary, then?” Yugi asked instead.

A long blink. “Yes.”

“The females are more numerous, I presume…?” A nod from Seto. “Okay, so the males travel from territory to territory in a never-ending search for females with which to mate.” That was the only way that made sense. Yugi at least knew that lamia are rare. It took a lot of territory to keep a predator of that size fed. But even relative to the species in general, males were incredibly sparse, so much so that some people believed that males didn’t even exist. Clearly, he had evidence otherwise right before him.

“That statement is accurate.”

Right. The only way that the species could continue was if the males inseminated as many females as they possibly could.

Yugi drummed his fingers on the water.

“Have you found any females recently?” Yugi asked, mostly innocent and curious.

But the question seemed anything but to Seto. His face darkened, brows furrowing, lips curling into a fanged snarl. “That is none of your damn business,” he hissed.

“Okay,” Yugi soothed, raising his hands. “I was just curious.”

Another hissing growl, deeply reptilian, and Seto turned away, just a little, but it was enough to signal to Yugi that he was no longer interested in talking.

“Thank you for talking with me,” Yugi said quietly.

It had been a while since the last time he’d had an actual conversation with someone capable of coherent language.

It was nice while it lasted.

Yugi huffed his breath out. Maybe he should do some more work before he ran out of daylight.

“Stay in the water as long as you like,” he turned to go farther downstream.

“I planned on it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Work because of Yugi's duties as minor river deity and work because Seto is a pain in the ass on his best days. 
> 
> (I know day 8 is bonus but I have no idea what to do for it so for now we are only going to have 7 parts, 'kay?)


	3. Domain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 5: Domestic/ **Home** and/or watching a movie
> 
> Let's pretend I'm not super late, 'kay? Thanks, love you. This is some more expository stuff, but I promise next chapter, things will get more exciting!

Slowly, cautiously, Yugi explored the area around his stream. The ravine that cradled it carved plateau into two pieces, and, sheltered from the harsher winds and nourished by the river, the trees there flourished. The plateau itself was barren save for jagged rocks, scraggly yellow grass, and the occasional gnarled tree. Yugi never traveled farther than the upper lip of the glen, but when he would peer out over that desolate terrain, he wondered just how Seto had survived traversing it in the blistering heat of the summer.

The more southern parts of the stream were fed also by spring water bubbling up from the earth and pouring from under low overhangs on the rocky cliffs, creating a small pond, and as the glen declined down to meet the gently sloping hills below the plateau’s feet, the tranquil water changed into rushing rapids that frothed between dark, jagged rocks that poked from beneath the foamy surface. At this time of year, fish were jumping, bright and flashing in the dappled sun, to reach upstream to spawn in shallower parts of the stream.

There, at the base of the plateau’s feet, a denser forest sprang up, and that was where Yugi’s territory ended, and where the territory belonging to one of his sisters began. There, too, a shrine was erected, dedicated to that sister (as the humans seemed to call her, “Goddess of the Lower River”). Dianthe, as her family knew her.

She was much older than Yugi, and Yugi only recalled seeing her a handful of times as he grew up in their mother’s massive inland lake.

That happened, Yugi guessed, when one’s mother was immortal and had hundreds of children.

No matter.

Somewhere, he knew, the pink flowers grew in his territory, flowers that shared her name.

And they did, growing in a thick bed around the base of a tree a few meters from the babbling waters of the stream.

Yugi crouched down. Two tender fingers straddled a bloom and brought it to his nose. The soft petals tickled his skin, and the warm, spicy scent of the flowers filled his lungs with each huff. A contented hum vibrated from his nose and through the pink blossoms, and it almost felt like the plant shivered with pleasure under his touch. Perhaps it did.

Smiling, he drew away, and so involved in his perusal of the flowers, he did not notice the white shape approaching from the other side of the stream, did not notice the sharp blue eyes watching him intently.

“I think anyone would be delighted to have you,” he murmured to the plants, and he carefully regarded each to choose only the prettiest flowers to gather in one small hand. He made sure to select no more than two from any particular plant.

Shredded nets and pieces of rope still littered the stream banks – Yugi wasn’t entirely sure how he was supposed to dispose of them, though he was sure they would eventually decompose on their own. For now, a smaller piece served his purposes, and he used the twine to gently bind the flowers in an artfully arranged bouquet. His little fingers adeptly tied a small bow.

He eyed his work. “I would be pleased to find this at my shrine,” Yugi murmured to himself. “I hope Dianthe feels the same way.”

He looked up then, and gasped at the sight before him. “By the Olympians, Seto!” He held a hand over his chest, where his heart was thudding rapidly against his ribcage. “You scared me.”

The lamia was on the other side of the stream. He hovered there, his long white coils straying off into the trees. He had some dirt smeared on him, and his face was wet – the little droplets caught the shifting sunlight like tiny diamonds.

“Did you just come back form hunting?” Yugi asked cheerfully.

The slightest incline of that sharp chin. Ultramarine eyes stared at the bundle of flowers in Yugi’s hand.

“These are dianthus flowers,” Yugi answered the unasked question. “They’re known for their spicy aroma.” He stepped forward, wading into the stream, until he was just close enough to reach his arms out. “Do you want to smell them?”

Slitted pupils – contracted harshly from the bright light of early afternoon – watched Yugi warily, but then that humanoid torso was leaning down, lustrous hair shifting off his shoulders to drape down his torso, and a forked tongue flicked out – the snake side smelling the flowers – before a clawed hand gently cupped a bloom to bring it to his nose. He inhaled deeply, and all the while, those vivid eyes remained locked on Yugi’s.

Seto pulled away then, his hand dropping down to return to his side.

“I got them for my sister. I just found her shrine at the foot of the plateau, and I figured I would leave her a gift. Neighborly good will and all of that.”

Thick lashes narrowed upon those cerulean irises. “You must leave your own sibling a gift?”

Yugi raised his shoulders, his blond fringe tickling his skin. “I do think I _must_ , but she is older and more powerful than me. My stream becomes her river, so it would be best if I got along with her.”

Seto huffed air through his nostrils but said nothing.

“Do you want to come with me?”

A pink lip twitched. “I doubt I will want to deal with two naiads.”

Yugi giggled and turned on his way. “I doubt she will show up at the shrine.”

A hum, then the rasp of scales on pebbles. Seto followed quietly, just a bit behind Yugi’s shoulder.

For most creatures with legs, wading through the stream would have been a much slower route compared to striding along the bank, but naiads were always at the advantage when touching the waters of their domain. Yugi cut through the water with a strange elegance, as if beneath the water his feet hovered just above the rocky bottom, as if the current was simply tugging him along.

“It isn’t too far from here,” Yugi said. Seto may or may not have been listening, but it still felt good to talk. “I have a great many siblings, but I am still lucky that it is one of my sisters that is so closely my neighbor. It was just as likely to be some stranger,” Yugi babbled. “My mother’s brood is large, but there are many that are just as much, if not more.” He hummed. “That being said, I am her only naiad son.”

“Not all of your siblings are nymphs?” Seto asked quietly.

“No. One of my brothers is a hydra. His father is Typhon.”

“ _The_ Typhon?”

“The one and only. I have another brother who is an icthyocentaur. _His_ father is Poseidon,” Yugi added. He rolled his shoulders in a gentle shrug. “My mother is a very ancient water spirit. She has had many chances with many mates. I never met my father, though. Mother says he was a water spirit from the far East.” He glanced over his shoulder with a small smile. “Do you have any siblings, Seto?”

“Yes,” and while it was an affirmation, it was dismissive and final. That was all Seto seemed willing to divulge, and Yugi didn’t feel like prying when they were just seeming to get along for once.

To avoid the fish leaping through the rapids, Yugi wandered out of the water just before, and he ambled alongside the lamia on the banks. Seto already had the torso of a larger human male, and on top of the trunk of his serpentine body supporting him, he towered well over Yugi’s head.

But in his massive, foreboding shadow, Yugi felt no fear.

“This here is the border between Dianthe’s domain and my own,” Yugi said, gestured to where his small stream (and a few others) fed into a larger river. “The shrine is just beyond that tree.” Yugi glanced up just as Seto nodded. Then those reptilian eyes were on him again. “Do you feel comfortable crossing over with me?”

A pause, then Seto slowly shook his head.

“I understand. I will be right back if you don’t mind waiting for me.”

A nod.

Yugi beamed, and Seto’s eyes made haste to flick away, the slightest dusting of pink brightening his face.

Yugi laid bundles of dianthus at the base of the stone shrine and was quickly on his way back. Looming like a white shadow beneath the trees Seto was remained where Yugi had left him.

“Let’s go home,” Yugi chirped.

Seto froze. “Home.”

“I know you said that male lamia normally spend their lives traveling, but you’re welcome to stay as long as you want,” Yugi replied, smiling brightly up at that stunned face. “I know you don’t find my presence much agreeable, but I enjoy the company.”

“You… are not the worst naiad I’ve had the displeasure of meeting…” Seto rumbled.

“I am going to take that as a compliment.”

“It’s not.”

“Hmm… sounds like one to me.”

“… It’s not.”

“You can keep telling yourself that.”

“You’re insufferable, naiad.”

“But you haven’t yet left!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided I WILL do the bonus day. I have a plan *rubs hands together evilly* meheheheheee
> 
> (Note: Typhon is known as the "Father of Monsters" in Greek mythos and is typically depicted as a hundred-headed dragon. The mother to most of his children is Echidna, "Mother of Monsters," but in some stories he has children with others. Also, icthyocentaurs are half man, half water horse. Torso of a man, the front legs of a horse coming from their hips, and the tail of a sea serpent or fish)


	4. Peace Is Better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 8: Anything you want! (I chose the word **Duel** )
> 
> Heed the updated tags, folks. A few things I want to add: despite my creative liberties with several sects of beings from Greek mythology, I am sticking pretty close to the book for centaurs. Unfortunately, that means that there is mentioned/implied rape in this chapter (I basically cover why everyone should be absolutely terrified of centaurs), though, rest assured, none takes place. 
> 
> Also, this features a combat scene between Seto and aforementioned centaur, but it isn't gory or too graphic. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Cupped in the glen, the stream was almost idyllic in its isolation, like a small, wild paradise carving through the barren plateau. Yugi had not the pleasure of seeing visitors, save for Seto, who was seeming more like a permanent resident by the day. After all, there was only two ways in for whoever traveled on foot – the upper lip of the ravine where the plateau began to rise into the foothills of a great craggy peak of a mountain, and then the foot of the plateau where the ravine emptied out into a larger river.

However, such positioning coincidentally made the glen the perfect passage for a traveler who wanted to descend the plateau to the lowlands, Seto had off-handedly mentioned at one point. If one entered the ravine from the plateau, one could safely traverse to the lowlands, rather than scaling down sheer rock faces.

It was surprising to Yugi then, that he did not receive more visitors. The only sign of sentient life had been Seto and those age-old fishing nets. Perhaps, then, not many travelers came this side of the plateau, Yugi figured. He thought not to worry too much about it – the peace was a welcome change of pace from the continuous drama often occurring in his mother’s domain, though sometimes the quiet drove Yugi a little stir crazy from time to time.

One fateful day taught him not to take the tranquility for granted.

Lately, the sun had shone down so hot and hard that it had seemingly thickened the air, to the point where it seemed like even sound was smothered by the thick, intense heat. On those days, the babbling of the stream sounded as though it were fuzzy in the arid affliction, rather than the crisp gurgle audible at any other time.

Thankfully, the heat had abated, at least for that day. Still, it was quiet, not because of oppressive temperatures but because of a sense of relaxation and relief. Yugi was playing in the spring to enjoy the tranquility and the cooler weather. The fish made engaging playmates as they darted around his form, both nymph and fish so well-suited to movement beneath the sparkling surface.

He breached the surface, his hair clinging wet and shiny to his pale neck, shoulders, and face. He laughed breathlessly. He glided through the water to the shore and ambled upon the glistening pebbles. A gentle breeze whispered through the glen, and it breathed against Yugi’s body, cooling the droplets glistening on his body and making him shiver pleasantly.

He drifted beneath the trees, to a cluster of bushes. Small red berries winked from behind rustling foliage, and Yugi’s gentle fingers reached to pluck them away and into his mouth. The juices, both sweet and tart, burst from between his molars, and he hummed in delight, swaying happily as he grazed. Their tawny wings flashing in the sun, the birds sang and flitted from branch to above his head. Lips and fingertips stained red from the juices of the berries, Yugi looked about curiously. There was no sign of his white reptilian acquaintance.

“He’s probably hunting,” Yugi murmured to himself, his tongue flicking out to lap the red up from around his nail bed.

Would Seto like berries? Could he eat anything that wasn’t meat?

Yugi wasn’t sure, but these berries were too delicious to eat by himself.

A sharp, rhythmic clatter pierced the air. Hooves.

Yugi turned and ducked behind the cover of the foliage in one smooth motion. He crouched low and peaked between the rustling leaves. The shifting image before him revealed only four long, strong legs. Dark hooves and a tawny blond coat glistened in the sunlight.

A horse?

Yugi, with bated breath, leaned a little more forward, and parted the leaves carefully with two fingers.

His heart dropped into his stomach.

No. A centaur.

A huge, Herculean human torso jutted from where a horse’s neck would ordinarily be. The equine legs, abdomen, and back were similarly bulky, and the muscles bunched and flexed beneath the sandy hide, which matched in color the beast’s blond hair that fell about his shoulders and trailed in a line down the humanoid spine. The front legs bent, kneeling so the human arms could reach down and cup water up to the centaur’s lips, and droplets caught and sparkled on the jaw, darkened by the coarse beginnings of a beard.

He was handsome, ruggedly so, but that didn’t make him any less of a threat.

Centaurs were wild, through and through, and the individuals who were the exceptions to this were far and few between. Males especially were driven entirely by the stallion half of their nature. They were violent, territorial…

… And rapacious in their carnal lust.

His mother and sisters had always whispered horrid tales of women carried off by the beasts, especially nymphs and other creatures of sublime beauty. Simply, they did not take “no” for an answer, and they would have whomever they wanted, whether the subject of their attentions wanted it or not.

Yugi had once thought that his maleness would ward off unwanted advances, but his mother had been quick to warn him that the beasts didn’t care – as long one was pretty enough, a centaur’s bestial arousal was stirred, especially if they hadn’t expressed their lust lately. Wisely, he heeded her words. An encounter with a centaur, of divine descent itself (though they hardly acted like it), could easily leave him traumatized or dead.

Yugi was vulnerable out here, out of reach from the waters that gave him shelter and power. He wasn’t so sure he could wait the beast out; he might intend to stay longer, or he could easily detect Yugi’s position with his superior hearing and sense of smell.

He had to get back to the water.

But he couldn’t just run out in the open. A mortal horse could easily outrun him, let alone a centaur. He’d be caught, and he really didn’t want to imagine what would happen afterward.

So, he decided to edge, crouched, along the bracken and the bushes, slowly, so achingly slowly. He could hardly hear over his pulse roaring in his ears like the fiercest rapids.

Unfortunately for him, while he was as graceful as could be when submerged in the water, he made a rather clumsy land dweller, and his barefoot slipped on the pebbles that shifted beneath his weight, and he was pitched forward, tangled in the bracken, and well within sight of the visiting centaur.

Breathing panicked, limbs trembling with blood-curdling fear, he looked up.

Gray eyes like blue steel stared back.

An awful grin warped that handsome face, baring blunt teeth.

“No, no, no,” Yugi murmured, hastily rolling to his feet.

“I didn’t expect a nymph to reign over such a small stream,” he called, voice rough and deep and _frightening_. He even _sounded_ like he could crush Yugi’s lithe body with but a flex of his arms. “Nor did I expect a male.”

Yugi was already darting for the water, but he was stumbling and slipping as the rounded, smooth pebbles shifted under his weight.

A loud, snorting chuckle, but hooves were clapping, cacophonous, on rock.

“Don’t run away, pretty little thing,” came the darkly mocking words.

Yugi slipped again, rolling and landing hard on his shoulder, and he could only gaze up in fear as that beast started galloping toward him full force. Hooves clattered like thunder.

It occurred to Yugi that he should probably try to get up, or to at least close his eyes, but he could only stare in horror as that formidable beast quickly made up the distance between them.

A growl, deep and hissing and reptilian, tore through the air and was the only warning before a huge white shape was tearing through the stream – water foaming up – to slam heavily into the centaur.

“Seto!” Yugi cried.

The centaur staggered, too stout to be knocked over, but his strong legs still trembled under the sudden weight of the lamia upon his back. He was trying to buck, trying to throw Seto off, but Seto’s torso was pressed to the back of his, pale arms snapping around the centaur’s thick neck in a choke hold, endless white coils wrapping around an equine body to hold and _clench_ , constricting with terrific serpentine power.

The centaur roared, trying to use his more muscular arms to pry Seto’s off him, away from his neck, but once Seto latched on, there was no letting go. Seto used the leverage of his hold on the equine body to throw the weight of his own torso back, bearing his forearm down on the centaur’s throat with force enough to choke him red in the face.

The centaur had more muscle concentrated in a smaller space, but Seto more than made up for the difference with his sheer _length_ , meters upon meters of coils _squeezing_ with crushing force.

But the centaur wasn’t about to be subjugated without one hell of a fight.

Legs trembling, teeth gritting, eyes rolling deliriously, and growling ferally, his hind quarters flexed, and he began to pitch himself backward, rearing up on his stronger back legs.

“ _Seto_!” Yugi screamed again.

The centaur threw himself backwards, using his weight to his advantage, and he rolled in an attempt to crush Seto beneath him on the ground.

But Seto was flexible, dogged, like a python about its prey – unwilling to let go no matter the costs. The centaur was vulnerable with his belly expose, legs kicked up in the air, so he tried to roll back over, but Seto’s mass stopped the moment.

He was stuck.

Yugi could hear the ragged gasps, the growls, the shifting in the pebbles, but he was powerless, unable to do anything, unable to get closer, lest he get crushed in the all-out brawl between two of the most dangerous beastmen to ever exist.

The centaur’s face was red and swollen, jaws clenched, and Yugi realized that every time he breathed out, every time that the centaur’s body deflated on an exhale, Seto _tightened_. Soon, he wouldn’t be able to breathe at all.

_Seto was going to kill him._

“Seto, no!” Yugi’s cry left his throat before he could register the words in his head, and now he was scrambling over pebbles to get closer when before the thought had scared him nearly to death. He stumbled over a stray coil, but landed heavily at Seto’s shoulder, where his hair was tangled over the pebbles, and his face was wrought with exertion and bloodlust and mortal determination.

His blue eyes snapped to Yugi when little hands joined the huge meaty ones pulling at his arm.

“Yu…gi… _move._ ”

“No,” Yugi replied, sobbing, shaking his head, hands trembling, so weak against the wired, practiced muscle. “You’ll kill him!”

“That’s…the…point…” Seto growled.

“Don’t kill him, Seto!” and Yugi’s voice was thick and breaking, but still he raised it to match the deathly fire burning in Seto’s gaze.

“He…tried—”

“ _I’ll never forgive you if you kill him!”_ Yugi cried, tears dripping onto Seto’s arm, onto the centaur’s purpling face.

Seto stared, still with shock.

“Please, don’t kill him,” Yugi whispered, beseeching, staring into those blue, blue eyes. “You’re more than a monster. You’re better than this.”

“He…”

“I don’t care!” Yugi whispered fervently. “Just don’t kill him. Let him go.”

If he weren’t panting so much, Seto probably would have been scowling immensely as he loosened around the centaur, as his arm dropped away, as the centaur gasped and coughed and gulped down air greedily with one hand clutched to his bruised throat.

Seto heaved the beast off him, and slithered his coils away. But he reared up, imposing, threatening, looming over the centaur with white claws glinting in the sun and fangs bared.

“Fucking leave and never come back. Because next time, I won’t hesitate to send you to Hades where you belong,” Seto growled, scales practically vibrating with righteous fury.

The centaur, with nary a glance back – surely taking the lamia’s threat to heart—limped his way out of sight.

Seto turned toward Yugi, lips curled into a derisive snarl, but Yugi was hardly paying attention as he launched himself at the lamia’s chest, his small arms banding around that still-heaving torso.

Seto was warm.

But Yugi was sobbing, trembling, burying his face in Seto’s chest.

“I thought… I thought I was…” but Yugi couldn’t finish his sentence.

Arms, strong ones that had been ready to kill for him, returned the embrace, gently lifted him, held him close as Seto backed them both into the sanctuary of the water.

Even with the cool water rushing around them and Seto’s large but gentle hand carding through his hair, it took an eternity for the sobs to end.

“Thank you,” Yugi whispered.

Seto said nothing in response, but the tender, gentle scrape of nails on Yugi’s scalp was more than answer enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, though, you guys. I think it's ironic that a lot of modern media depicts centaurs as noble, graceful, and other good things when they were nothing but bad news in Greek and Roman mythology save for like, one. And he wasn't even related to all the other centaurs, so I'm not sure he still counts... You probably know him by his Roman name, Sagittarius. His Greek name was Chiron, and he was a scholar, a doctor, and the mentor to many of the heroes of legend (I think he was known specifically for teaching Achilles... eh. Not important).
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this update! I had a hell of a lot of fun writing the combat scene (it's been a hot minute since I've written one but it felt like putting on an old, well-loved jacket).


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